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Prague Exhibition Grounds

The Prague Exhibition Grounds (Výstaviště Praha) is an exhibition and events complex in Bubeneč, Prague.[3] It was created for the Jubilee Exhibition of 1891, and its dominant building is the Industrial Palace.[1] The grounds are managed by the joint-stock company Výstaviště Praha under the City of Prague.[1]*

The 1891 Jubilee Exhibition

The Jubilee Exhibition opened on 15 May 1891 and ran until 18 October. It drew about 2.5 million visitors. The Industrial Palace had already opened on 15 March 1891.[1] The site plan was drawn up by Bedřich Münzberger and Antonín Wiehl, with F. Buldra, J. Stibral and J. Vejrych also contributing designs. František Křižík provided arc-lamp lighting.[2] Křižík also built a light fountain for the exhibition, which became one of the symbols of the grounds.[1]

Later exhibitions and fairs

The Czechoslavic Ethnographic Exhibition took place here in 1895 and the Exhibition of Architecture and Engineering in 1898.[2] A pavilion was built for the latter to house Marold's panorama of the Battle of Lipany. The Art Nouveau U Primasů pavilion was added during another jubilee exhibition in 1908. The Prague Sample Fairs were held here from 1920 to 1951, and the Slavic Agricultural Exhibition in 1948.[1] From 1953 the grounds were called the Julius Fučík Park of Culture and Recreation; the present name returned after 1990.[1]

Recent history

The Brussels Pavilion burned down in 1991, the Globe theatre in 2005, and the left wing of the Industrial Palace in 2008 (Industrial Palace fire). The 2002 flood inundated the lower part of the grounds and damaged, among other things, the Spirála theatre.[1] In 2014 the company Incheba returned the grounds to the administration of the city.[1]

Reconstruction of the Křižík Pavilions began in 2020. Pavilion D was the first to open in 2021, and the repaired pavilions with new roofs opened to the public in June 2024.[3] Their roofs became green terraces covering more than 6,000 m². The Spirála theatre returned in 2024.[1] The Industrial Palace reopened after reconstruction on 24 September 2026.[4]

Sources

  1. Výstaviště Praha
  2. Památkový katalog NPÚ
  3. ČT24 — 2024-06-05
  4. ČT24 — 2026-09-24

* The sources are collected and the preliminary text of this entry is drafted with artificial intelligence, on the instruction of the editorial staff; the entry has not yet been verified by an editor — report a mistake.